The Role of the Ulama in the Acehnese Society from the 16th to the 21st century

This article analyzes the place of ulama in Acehnese society from the sixteenth century to the present with a particular stress on the heyday of the Acehnese sultanate in the seventeenth century. In spite of Aceh's early Islamization, the article shows that this place was always relatively minor and that Islamic practices in Aceh have for a long time been close to that of other regions of Indonesia. It is Aceh's somewhat unjustified reputation in Java that led to the implementation of elements of syariah in the province in the beginning of the twenty first century.